(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-08 18:43

Thousands of Taliban fighters were fighting to defend the town, the commander, Mullah Qasam told Reuters by satellite telephone. The Taliban frequently exaggerate foreign casualties.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said the operation was launched following a request from local tribal chiefs.

US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban for refusing to give up al Qaeda leaders after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

But foreign forces had only a limited presence in Helmand allowing the Taliban to regroup and take control of large parts of the mainly desert province till around 7,000 British troops moved in some 18 months ago.

Since then, there has been fierce fighting as British-led ISAF troops, backed by Afghan forces have gradually wrested control of the major towns back from the Taliban.

But the Taliban still control parts of the fertile Helmand River valley that runs through the desert and have launched hit-and-run attacks and suicide bombs elsewhere to destabilise the province and weaken government control.

The Taliban relaunched their insurgency two years ago with guerrilla attacks in the south and east and suicide bombings on cities across the country aimed at convincing Afghans their government and its Western allies cannot bring security.

In a separate incident, a district chief and six of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush on a road in Farah province bordering Helmand on Saturday, a provincial official said.

An Afghan military commander and five of his body guards were killed in a similar incident on Friday in the western province of Herat, but it was not clear who carried out that attack.

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